So Typical...
It always depresses me to pass these stories on, but the Condi Rice State Department is continuing to drone on about the disengagement as a first step toward a larger peace deal:
Rice told Shalom that coordinating the pullout plan with the PA was critical and must be continued. She said it was important to be able to use the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern West Bank to strengthen Abbas. Rice said she would like the disengagement to form the basis of a renewed diplomatic process and help boost Abbas' regime.
It's depressing because much of my support for the disengagement is predicated on the idea that, by leaving Gaza now, Israel can get the diplomatic capital to annex parts of the West Bank by doing something (that is, withdrawing from Gaza) that they eventually would have had to do anyway. Essentially, I hope that the disengagement will be an opportunity for Sharon to trade up the Gaza Strip for the West Bank.
Rice told Shalom that coordinating the pullout plan with the PA was critical and must be continued. She said it was important to be able to use the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern West Bank to strengthen Abbas. Rice said she would like the disengagement to form the basis of a renewed diplomatic process and help boost Abbas' regime.
It's depressing because much of my support for the disengagement is predicated on the idea that, by leaving Gaza now, Israel can get the diplomatic capital to annex parts of the West Bank by doing something (that is, withdrawing from Gaza) that they eventually would have had to do anyway. Essentially, I hope that the disengagement will be an opportunity for Sharon to trade up the Gaza Strip for the West Bank.
